


Angel

by nekonexus



Category: Ginyuu Mokushiroku Meine Liebe | Meine Liebe
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-27
Updated: 2010-04-27
Packaged: 2017-10-09 05:06:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/83347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nekonexus/pseuds/nekonexus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eduard never believed in angels.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Angel

**Author's Note:**

> Based on episode 2 of the first series, where Ed and Orphe meet for the first time.

Eduard had never believed in angels. They seemed to him to be really frivolous, silly things. The sort of thing a girl might believe in, maybe, but there wasn't one he could ask so it really didn't matter. The tiny, babyish, cherubim were just plain ridiculous, and the big, fearsome angels with swords that guarded places like chapel doors... well. They were supposed to help people, but he'd never seen any sign of it. Mostly he figured they just stood around and looked impressive, like grownups did.

Maybe that was the problem. Angels were either babies or grownups and neither kind made much sense to him. They couldn't protect anybody, they couldn't make things better and, like most people in his life, they didn't talk to him. Only his father did, really, and his father was most definitely not an angel. He was just a man, and even if he had rescued him and his sister, it hadn't been perfect or angelic. An angel wouldn't have sent his sister away, would it? So no. His father was just a man, and maybe the Countessa was an evil witch, like in a fairytale -- he hadn't quite decided if she was, but he didn't know what else she could be -- but there were no such things as angels in his life.

It wasn't something he thought about a lot, but some woman passing by had tried to pinch his cheek and tell him what a darling, perfect little angel he was. He'd wanted to tell her how stupid that sounded, but he didn't. After all, this was a big fancy party his father was holding for him, so it wouldn't do to act so childish.

Standing at the top of the staircase, he wondered if he should try and be brave and descend into the crowd. But he didn't want to be ignored and he didn't want to get lost in the forest of strange legs, so he waited. It wasn't long before his father came along, anyway, and that made waiting all right.

His father laid one hand on his shoulder and smiled down at him. "Stand tall," he said, "for you are my son, of whom I am proud."

His heart swelled up so big he thought it would burst. There was nothing else in the world he wanted more than to make his father proud. The silly old Countessa could go fall down a well for all he cared -- he was his father's son and the King said so too. That was what this party was about, after all. The King had said he was a real von Braunschweig, and there was nothing the Countessa could do about it.

Nodding once, with all his heart in it, he smiled at his father. "Yes, father."

But then there was still the problem of the staircase, which his father was going down now, but he hadn't told Ed to come with him, so he still wasn't sure what to do. Glancing back to the hall, he saw the Countessa herself, watching him from behind a pillar. She was always watching, always waiting for him to do something wrong. Maybe waiting for a chance to get rid of him, like she had forced his father to give away his sister. But she couldn't now. The King had said it was okay, and she couldn't argue with the King. Still, it made him nervous, the way she watched.

"You are Eduard," someone said, startling him.

Turning back to the staircase, he said, "Y-yes," nervously, before he could even see who it was. And then he did see, and thought his eyes must be deceiving him because...

Because there were no such things as angels, but if they did exist, he must be seeing one.

It was a boy, about his age, or maybe a year older. A boy with blond hair that hung like silk around a beautiful face, and eyes the colour of a stormy sky. An absolutely gorgeous vision of perfection. He must be an angel. Nothing else, nothing human, could be so... so... wonderful.

"I am Orpherus, from the neighbouring territory," the vision said, and Ed had no reply for that, not even a simple, "pleased to meet you," because his mouth had gone dry, his heart seemed to have stopped, except it was racing, and he couldn't seem to remember how to breath properly.

"Do you... like horseback riding?"

And besides, only an angel would speak to him like this, ask him what he liked. No one cared about things like that, except his father, and he was all too often busy. Only an angel would know how much he adored horses, how he loved riding more than just about anything.

"Next time I'll ask Father and we'll go riding together. It's far more fun than parties."

The angel seemed uncertain somehow, but he must be imagining that, because angels must be absolutely certain of everything. His mind finally caught up with him and he remembered to smile. Maybe he'd been mistaken. There were no such things as angels, after all, so this must be something else.

Maybe it was love.


End file.
